


Disillusion, by Hermione Granger

by esama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Essay fic, Gen, Magic Revealed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-23
Updated: 2014-01-23
Packaged: 2018-01-09 18:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1149623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry Potter went down in history as the man who destroyed the magical world. He received a Nobel Prize for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disillusion, by Hermione Granger

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net on 01/14/2011  
> Proofread by Cheryl and Spurio

**Disillusion**

An essay by Hermione Granger

Written in 2005

 

* * *

 

 

**Table of Contents**

 

**1\. Introduction**

**2\. Development of Harry Potter**

       2.1 The Prophecy

       2.2 The War

       2.3 Absence of Childhood

       2.4 End of Understanding

       2.5 First Step of Tomorrow

**3\. Incorporated Illusions Incorporated**

       3.1 Magiparticle

       3.2 Reinventing the Radio

       3.3 Generation of the Magitech

       3.4 Magic of the Internet

       3.5 Fiction to Fact

**4\. End of the World as We Knew It**

       4.1 Goliath Against David

       4.2 End in Sight

       4.3 Repeal of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy

       4.4 Natural Magiparticle Carriers

       4.5 Ambassador Harry Potter

       4.6 Final Illusion

**5\. Thoughts on the subject**

 

* * *

 

**1\. Introduction**

Where and how Illusions Incorporated began and where Incorporated Illusions ended have been the question of the past three years. Two corporations, two companies, two innovative facilities working, seemingly, for completely different goals - and yet, as it was proven five years ago with the revelation of the Natural Magiparticle Carriers, with exact same thing in mind. Various studies have been published, various articles - even various illusiovision documentaries - but in absence of actual interviews, and with the CEO of Illusions Inc. being notoriously silent, no one can tell which theory is right, and which is incorrect.

In this essay, I will be retracing the history of both Illusions Incorporated and Incorporated Illusions, as well as whatever is known of their CEO, in order to figure out the timeline of both companies. The aim is to determine whether or not their eventual unification had been the original plan, or accidental effect of the progress that eventually ended up revolutionising the world.

As CEO, Harry Potter went down in history as the man who destroyed the magical world. He even received a Nobel Prize for it. But was it really just one man's lengthy act of revenge, or a complete accident?

 

**2\. Development of Harry Potter**

 

Though there are numerous claims about family relations to the wealthiest man on the planet, everything from uncles to cousins to grandfathers and even to children regardless of the fact that he is known to have been sterile all his life, there is little to be said about Harry Potter's family. One rarely looks into the matter of his parents, but for a good reason - if the media can be trusted, they had very little to do with him except for bringing him into this world. Still, it is said that he was bought from the Potters on the day of his birth by the Ministry of Magic - although the exact sum has been argued upon, as well as whether he was actually bought, stolen or extorted (Skeeter R., 2003, _The True History of Ministry of Magic_ ).

No, it is a well known fact that Harry Potter was fed, raised and trained by the Ministry of Magic from between the day of his birth on the 31st of July, 1980 to the 13th of February, 1986. However, the true beginning of his life was not with his birth, but some time before that. The journey - and the report - of Harry Potter's life begun some months before his birth when a Prophecy was spoken, recorded, and acted upon (Trudent L., 2001, _Back Story of Success_ ).

 

**2.1 The Prophecy**

 

Divination is a chaotic and often unpredictable science, thought to be mere trickery by many - but at its highest form, it is the most powerful magic ever known. Prophecy is what all Seers strive try to achieve. To produce a single Prophecy would mean being set for life, as muggles say - or so it was, in the 20th century. Although nowadays, the Prophecy funds provided by the various Ministries of Magic are no longer used, Prophecies are still considered the most viable and accurate way of predicting the future (Vablatsky C., 2000 edition, _Unfogging the Future. Science of Magic_ , 1998, issue 7).

Of course, there is endless ongoing debate about the matter of whether or not Prophecies come true due to the nature of Magic itself or if it is due to the actions of the people who hear them that they are proven correct - whether Prophecies are true or just self-fulfilling. Not to mention of how vague Prophecies tend to be; how much interpretation plays a role in the fulfilment of a Prophecy. Regardless, they are still considered the strongest of all forms of Divination because one way or another, a Prophecy always comes true.

Just a few months before Harry Potter's birth, the month of May, 1980 was when such a Prophecy was spoken by Sybil Trelawney, who afterwards gained a well-paying job teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she taught until the school was shut down in 1997 (Trelawney S., 2002, _Lifetimes Across Time_ ).

Setting aside the rumours of this Prophecy and whether or not it was true or just Madam Trelawney's attempt of certifying her powers as a Seer - and gaining the job she wanted, not to mention about the Prophecy fund she was granted soon after - let us examine the Prophecy itself.

In its entirety, the Prophecy goes: _"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. … The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies”_ (London Institute of Magical Sciences, the Public Archives, 2003).

In the course of the last few years, ever since the publication of Prophecies by the London Institute of Magical Sciences or LIMS, this particular prophecy has been analysed and re-analysed until the meaning it originally was thought to have was translated out of existence. That aside, the original interpretation of the Prophecy could be inferred as the reason as to why the world is the way it is now.

"The conclusion is that the Prophecy refers either to Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, both known to have fought against the Dark Lord in question on three separate occasions, or Charms Mistress Lily Potter and her husband, Auror James Potter, who have had three similar encounters. Both couples were predicted to have their children born at the end of July and the genders of these children were verified at St. Mungo's. Further surveillance recommended." ( _Limsark_ , 2004, issue 4, paraphrasing from Report 283 of DOM section 6, paragraph 15).

Already in the beginning, even before his birth, Harry Potter was watched and recorded - as was Neville Longbottom. And when the both of them were born just on the final days of July, the Ministry took action. "In accordance to the Prophecy of May 1980, the Ministry of Magic will take charge of underage Sorcerers Harry James Potter and Neville August Longbottom under Wizengamot Law 164, paragraph 12," was all that was publicly said about the matter - and whether or not the parents of these two chosen children agreed to the matter was never determined ( _Limsark_ , 2004, issue 5).

To this day, the Longbottoms say nothing of the matter, and since the Potters have moved out of the country and into parts unknown in 1988, they have been unavailable for interviews. But rumours still fly.

 

**2.2 The War**

 

At this point, we should look into the background of the Prophecy, and what made it so important in the eyes of the Ministry of Magic. The year 1980 was a grim one for the British Magical Society - it was a time of civil war. From as early as 1970, the secret nation had been besieged by fear and terror, as a man known only by the name of Voldemort terrorised the population with acts of cruelty and murder (Bagshot B. & Fergusson E., 2001, _History of Dark Magic_ ).

It should be noted, that although wizards had a body of government and even law enforcement corps, they had little in the way of military power or understanding, so a war and acts of terrorism were not something they could easily handle. When Voldemort acted upon his motives and goals, gathering followers and forcing his enemies into submission either by torture, extortion or death, very few knew how to fight back. As it was, the generation in control at the time, who had just twenty five years earlier dodged the bullet with Grindelwald, were very nearly helpless against such ruthless cruelty (Fergusson E., 1996, _History of Magical Warfare_ ).

It was not until later that the acts of terrorism came to be called an act of war. This was credited to the graduates from Hogwarts – newly dubbed adult wizards with a new outlook in life, not chained by the indifference and pacifism of their elders. They entered the wizarding world with new strength and the willingness to fight for their right to be there. When Voldemort or his forces attacked these individuals, they did not lay down begging for their lives - they fought back instead (Jackson A. 1988, _Education about Education_ ).

But still, it was too little, too late. By that time, Voldemort's forces were numerous and secretive, and spells like Imperius and potions like Polyjuice and numerous other techniques made it hard for people to unearth spies or agents of Voldemort. It also resulted in an extreme decrease in trust as people lost faith in their neighbours and friends, fearing they had fallen under this or that malevolent influence. Even the Ministry of Magic was no exception with highborn pureblood wizards, the people supporting similar ideals as the Dark Lord, as they were staffing most of the positions there.

In the year 1980, the war was at its peak, and no one trusted anyone. The Ministry, in a countermeasure of the deadly means Voldemort's forces applied, had adopted harsher policies, and Aurors were likened to Death Eaters in their methods. Although some underground movements, such as the famed Order of the Phoenix tried to achieve an end for the war through more peaceful means, the results were minuscule at best. Voldemort's forces were vast; they had long since infiltrated the Ministry, and the fall of the government was only a matter of time (Skeeter R., 2002, _Rising and Falling; Ministry of Magic_ ).

Then the Prophecy was spoken, and the Ministry, already grasping at straws to maintain a stable government and nation, saw it as a chance - as a lifeline.

 

**2.3 In Absence of Childhood**

 

As a great sum of important documents both from the Department of Mysteries in particular and the Ministry of Magic in general were lost in 2000, it is impossible to say in precise detail what happened during the first years of Harry Potter's and Neville Longbottom's life. What happens afterwards, however, is known to all. At the age of three years and two months, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom single-handedly defeated fifteen of Voldemort's Death Eaters, taking out three Dementors and a werewolf in one fell swoop. But, how?

In three years, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom had grown the worth of fifteen years, if not more. The only picture of them together shows them both as strong young magicians in their teens, standing proudly at Minister Fudge's sides during the press conference of September 3rd, 1983. How the Ministry achieved this is still unknown, and there has been speculation that time magic or some sort of revolutionary potions were involved, but regardless of the means, the result spoke for itself. At the age of three, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom were trained and ready to fight for the Ministry. Later, in other press conferences and interviews, it was even demonstrated that they had not only grown rapidly in physique but also in mind, both expressing unusually high levels of intelligence and incredible feats of memory - and all this without even getting to the matter of their clearly superior magical abilities ( _Daily Prophet_ , 1983, September 3. _Tempus Magazine_ , 1983 issue 9 and 10).

In effect, the Ministry had created two super-wizards to fight and, most definitely, to win the war against Voldemort. Whether this speaks of their resourcefulness, their ruthlessness or their desperation has and most likely will be debated for years on end - not to mention of the endless discussion and dialogue on how it was even possible. However, the result was not achieved without setbacks and cost, as Neville Longbottom soon discovered.

Between the months of September 1983 and April 1984, Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter both reacted and acted upon the threat of Voldemort - often without the backing of Aurors. They arrested twenty-seven dark wizards, eight magical creatures and killed possibly twice as many although the accounts of this vary due to lack of hard evidence. This lasted until the beginning of May 1984, when Voldemort himself faced off against the two. Again, the accounts are unreliable, but the result was that Neville Longbottom was hospitalised, and Harry Potter, with his brand new lightning bolt scar, was hailed as the hero; the Chosen One of the Prophecy (Jordan S., 1985, _Building Blocks of a Hero_. _Daily Prophet_ , several issues from 1983 and 1984).

Neville Longbottom ended up being hospitalised in St. Mungo's for seven years, the first of which he spent in a coma. The hospital records, published in 1997 in the magical world and 2000 everywhere else, showed that for a year, he was supported by Ministry funds, but that he had only a handful of visitors. Excluding reporters, his only other visitor was Harry Potter. It is rumoured that in the early stages of Neville Longbottom's condition, the Ministry stopped whatever treatment that had rapidly grown the two boys, believing him a lost cause - which is the reason why, when he woke up on the morning of May 27, 1985, he was barely surviving under life support with all his major organs needing continuous magical treatments, and his body completely paralysed from the waist down. The rapid aging, however it had been done, was too much of a strain for his system without the right potions to support it, it was believed, and without those potions, he was dying (London Institute of Magical Sciences, Public Archives, 2000).

It is said that this is the reason for everything Harry Potter did later in life. It is said that he argued long and hard with his superiors to make them support Neville and return him to his previous health, but the Ministry refused, having no use for him as he was no longer a potential subject of the Prophecy. It resulted in Harry Potter's many arguments and objections when the Ministry eventually stopped funding Neville's hospital care, leaving him with nothing but a withering body and slow death ( _Tempus Magazine,_ 2001, issue 3).

For Harry Potter, who had been raised and trained shoulder to shoulder with Neville, this was a betrayal he never forgot nor forgave. He begun funding Neville's care himself - although where he got the money, no one knows precisely - and while he still did the Ministry's bidding, there was something else brewing beneath the veneer of his submission ( _Salem Grimoire_ , 2000, issues 6 and 7).

 

**2.4 End of Understanding**

 

The war ended on the 29th of January, 1986, when Harry Potter, at the age of six, killed Voldemort in Little Hangleton. This was after countless battles and attacks from both sides with Harry Potter spearheading the Ministry's forces, and Voldemort doing the same on the other side. Although several of the attacks and battles have been recorded carefully, there are still unknown variables involved in the war; one of them concerning a hunt for unidentified items and several unexplained Department of Mysteries missions that had been referenced in other documents, but not truly recorded. Regardless, the end result was final. The war was over and Voldemort would not be coming back to terrorise the innocent ( _Daily Prophet_ , 1986, January 30 and 31).

For several days, wizards did nothing but celebrate, and Harry Potter was hailed as a hero wherever he went. He gave interviews, posed for pictures, signed autographs and the people loved him. The problem was, he no longer saw eye to eye with the people he stood for, and once more tried to speak out for Neville - this time in public. And when the Ministry once more denied any help, only to find out that a simple _no_ would not silence their super soldier, they let him go - with their thanks and a generous pension ( _Daily Prophet_ 1986, February 27. _Witches Weekly_ , 1986, issue 8).

To the outside observer it looked like the Ministry was distancing itself from the troublesome and now redundant hero; in a way this was true. The Ministry was busy repairing and rebuilding itself after the war, re-establishing the government and making things stable and normal again - handling bushfires started by a rebellious soldier was not high on their list of priorities. And behind it all, the fact was that Harry Potter had fulfilled his purpose - the goal he had been engineered to accomplish had been completed.

When being let go and given a hundred thousand galleons did not satisfy Harry Potter, the Ministry did find within itself the will to act. When Harry Potter spoke for his friend, for himself, and almost revealed what had been done to them to get them to this point, the Ministry started to counter with its own stories, rumours with more rumours. The Daily Prophet, formerly the scribe of Harry Potter's heroics, became a tool for his attempted downfall. Suddenly, the hero everyone loved was found to have mental issues – a fact which was earlier disputed and then realised to be plausible after all the changes done to him, all the things he had done to win the war ( _Daily Prophet_ , 1996, March 3. _Tempus Magazine_ , 1987 issue 8).

Within some weeks, he went from trusted and honoured hero to beloved, but slightly unstable icon - still honoured, but never fully trusted again. It is said that it was his celebrity status that still gave him a voice, the reason why his objections were still published but were received with amused patience and exasperation, like lies from a child, striving for attention. He was, in short, a loveable lunatic ( _Quibbler_ , 1986, issue 9).

What was the final nail in the coffin was not being branded a fool. It was the fact that soon afterwards, he too was denied the treatments that maintained his health. The records say that the treatments continued well into the middle of March before stopping abruptly on the 17th of March, 1986 - and his appeal on the 18th and 19th were immediately dismissed. Although his condition was much better than Neville's - he was now physically older and more stable than Neville had been when he had started to decline - the effect was quite rapid, making him weaker physically and giving him health issues as his immune system weakened (London Institute of Magical Sciences, Closed Archives, 2001).

By this point, however, he had learned his lessons from Neville's fate. A mere month after his own decline had begun, Harry Potter transferred his assets abroad before taking his ill friend and leaving. Although the Ministry was happy to bid him good riddance, there were some who worried about possible revenge ( _Daily Prophet_ 1986, April 1, 3 and 4).

 

**2.5 First Step of Tomorrow**

 

What Harry Potter did between the years 1986 and 1987 is unknown, but he next emerged in the public records of what was back then called the Muggle World, when he enrolled into Harvard University. How he managed to do so is still unknown, but the records and identification papers he produced were both real and indisputable - regardless of the fact that they had added ten years to his life ( _The Harvard Crimson_ , 2001, September 5. _Allusion of Illusion - Documentary about Illusions Incorporated_ , 2002).

Why he did it, however, is no mystery.

Originally, he spent three years in the school, studying sciences, namely quantum mechanics, physics, chemistry and engineering. Although he was still considerably weakened physically, his mind was still sharp as he tackled these subjects and more, gaining his first masters degree at the age of ten on quantum mechanics (Harry Potter's digital CV and biography in Illusions Incorporated official website, read in 2005).

By that time, Illusions Incorporated had already taken its first steps towards world domination.

 

* * *

 

 

**3\. Incorporated Illusions Incorporated**

 

Although there is debate on where the current main office of Illusions Incorporated/Incorporated Illusions is actually located, the very first office, if it can be called that, was in room 303 of the Campus Apartment Complex at HarvardUniversity in the year 1990. That is where he designed the first prototype of the Magiparticle Generator - fondly nicknamed the _Deus Ex Machina_ then. It was what he would eventually write his thesis on, and what his empire would be based on, at least on one hand (Potter H, 2002, _Magiparticle and Bending the Misconceptions About the Universe_ ). On the other hand, however, his revolution started small. With a simple radio, in fact. What came first, however, only he knows.

 

**3.1 Magiparticle**

 

No one can quite explain what Magiparticle really is no matter how much research and studies have been carried out, or how Harry Potter discovered the way to produce them synthetically. Some traditionalists still say that it is impossible, that it is trickery, that it is nothing but a lie. Regardless, the theory and results overshadowed all of the objections because no matter how it came to be, it was here to stay ( _Salem Grimoire_ , 2001, July 16).

According to various sources, the original Magiparticle Generator started out small yet big at the same time. The machine itself was as big as a room, impossibly intricate, and yet it produced a fairly small effect; in the beginning everyone held only small hopes for it. However, despite the fact that the results of the generator's first tests were absolutely minuscule in comparison to what the Number Four engine could do just a year later, it was a sensation. Despite its rough, bulky appearance, the Deus Ex Machina still did the impossible - making objects fly ( _History of Future's Science_ , Magitech website, read in 2005. _Magitech Machina_ , 2003 issue 5).

Of course, the original results were simple - small items levitated several feet at a short distance. But it was what muggles had considered impossible until that moment. Although the initial effect was simple and hardly useful, Harry Potter had still performed a technological miracle ( _The Harvard Crimson_ , 1990, October 5. _Cambridge_ _Chronicle_ , October 6).

He was immediately offered funding, job opportunities, laboratories, research opportunities, everything he could have ever wanted, everything he could have ever needed - he was offered absolute royalties for the patent of the first generator alone. But he declined them all, promptly patenting the engine to his name, starting Illusions Incorporated and hiring a lawyer to make sure no difficulties would arise as he continued to work on the engine to better it, to perfect it.

The Magiparticle Generator Mark Two was finished two months later on October 14th,1990 in a much smaller size and with increased production capabilities - the generator could be now used to levitate heavier objects at a larger distance. As people saw that the project was only getting bigger and greater, many attempts of gaining the technology by whatever means necessary were made - eventually resulting in the theft in December of 1990 which ended in the tragedy of 1991 when one hundred and twenty nine people died in an explosion resulting from the misuse of the Magiparticle Generator, causing it to overload and explode in the basement of an apartment complex ( _Time Magazine_ , 1991, issue 4. _CNN_ Archives, 1991. Lindstrom L. 1997, _Science of Greed_ ).

That was the first, though not the last setback of the Magiparticle, but certainly not its end. The investigation that followed caused Harry Potter to leave the campus and move his experiments elsewhere shortly after gaining his masters degree. He sold the designs of the original generator for nine point seven million dollars to a private party, and bought an island off the coast of Massachusetts for roughly two million dollars - spending another four million in making it habitable and fit for his work ( _Cambridge_ _Chronicle_ , 1991, February 25th, _Magitech_ _Machina_ , 2003).

In the beginning, only seven people lived on the island; Harry Potter and his newly hired workers who, using a small motorboat to visit the mainland for food and supplies, and working almost around the clock, truly started Illusions Incorporated. The Magiparticle Generator Mark Four was eventually released in late 1991 for construction and transportation purposes, and the release brought the company's net worth value up to twenty five million in the first month alone ( _Illusions Incorporated Along the Years_ , _The Worker's Blog,_ and _Annual Business Analysis_ , Illusions Incorporated website, read in 2005).

In time, the island came to see a work force of one hundred and eighteen workers until finally, in 1991, Harry Potter bought a larger island next to the first, connecting them with a bridge and thus creating the building blocks of what would be called the Magitech Empire ( _Cambridge Chronicle_ , 1992, _Magitech Machina_ 2003, Illusions Incorporated website read in 2005).

 

**3.2 Reinventing the Radio**

 

It was around the time when Harry Potter was still in university that a store was opened on Salem's Witchburn Street, named Incorporated Illusions. Although the store now takes up most of the formerly hidden street, it is said that originally it was a small store which in the beginning only sold technological knickknacks like watches, and cameras which at the time were only considered largely muggle oddities and not really that popular. The little store of Incorporated Illusions had barely any customers and was in the danger of going out of business very soon after its launch ( _Salem Grimoire_ , 1990, August 3. Various verbal sources).

Then the new camera went on sale and gained popularity for its incredible ability that made it unnecessary to develop a film - the camera did it instantly - and although the effect of people moving was somewhat reduced, it was still much more handier than current versions on the market. For a supposed muggle observer, the origins of the instant camera would have been obvious but at the time, wizards did not know what a Polaroid was. The camera was welcomed with open arms, and the sales, still fairly humble, enabled the store to further expand and employ assistants ( _Magitech_ _Machina_ , 2002, issue 12. _Salem Grimoire_ , 1990, issue 8).

The follow up of the Instant Camera, the Endless Frame, cemented Incorporated Illusions' reputation in Salem - and then sometime later, everywhere else as well. The Endless Frame could take the pictures of the Instant Camera and hold them like the pages of a book - all you had to do was to press a button and they changed to a different picture. It was marketed for its space saving qualities with the saying, "You can now have one frame with all your pictures in it without needing to fill up your desks and tables. One frame; all your pictures.". Whether it was the marketing or the frame itself, it too gained popularity, enough to solidify the still small company's standing on Witchburn Street ( _Endless Frame Advertisement_ , Incorporated Illusions 1990).

It caused some confusion when Incorporated Illusions moved away from cameras and picture frames, and started working with radios next - but what little success the camera and the frame had had was nothing compared to what happened with the radio. The advancement was fairly simple, but groundbreaking enough to make the radio new in the eyes of the consumers. And the timing of its release couldn't have been better. ( _Incorporated_ _Illusions_ _Catalogue_ , December 1990. _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1990, December 13).

Simply put, Incorporated Illusions started selling radios in pairs. They looked like normal radios and played all the usual radio stations, but they had one extra feature - on the correct station, the radios could communicate with each other. "No need to dirty yourself with _Floo Powder_ to talk with your best friend - buy a pair and give the other as a gift, and you can talk all day long without even needing to look at a fireplace!" the advertisement said, and it was an instant hit. In the first month alone, almost ten thousand pairs were sold ( _Duo Radio Advertisement_ , Incorporated Illusions 1990 and 1991. _Witchburn Street_ _Business Assessment_ , 1990).

From there on, the radio was the cornerstone of Incorporated Illusions, and as the shop grew bigger, creating branches in other wizarding centres and eventually shipping its products abroad, small but significant advancements were made. After a few months, the Incorporated Illusions radios could be used to talk to more than one person. Eventually, they all became connected. Half a year later, the Endless Frame was added to the radio, with the capability of transmitting live feed to and from the radios when you were talking with them - people likened them to two-way mirrors but it was an inadequate description as the mirrors could only handle paired mirrors while the radios could handle multiple users.

When the function of sending pictures from one radio to another was added, it seemed like a natural progression. And when the keyboard function was made available, enabling people to write and send messages to each other, it was not that hard for wizards to learn to use it. By the time a free manual control tool was added to the "radios", hundreds of thousands have been sold worldwide. (Bailey D.K., 2002, _New History of Radio_ ).

In one short year, almost every wizarding family had a multi-tool computer with a functional wireless local network, or WiFi as muggles called it - and they did not even realise the potential.

 

**3.3 Generation of the Magitech**

 

Illusions Incorporated soon became the fastest growing company known, moving to meet demands people did not even know existed. While the Magiparticle Generator induced antigravity technology became more popular with anything that included heavy lifting, it was also used for other purposes. The design and planning took up a better part of a year before finally, in August of 1991, Illusions Incorporated and Saturn Corporation unveiled a functional prototype of the world's first hovercar, the Saturn Hover, at the South Florida Auto Show ( _Magitech_ _Machina_ , 2004, issue 4. _South_ _Florida_ _Auto_ _Show_ _brochure_ , 1991).

It was a beginning but only one of many key points that made Illusions Incorporated the incomparable success story that it is today. While the hover technology literally took flight, the Magiparticle Generator was further modified for other functions. In early 1992, the antigravity capabilities of the generator were reversed, and were soon started to be fitted to work in spaceships and space stations as artificial gravity generators ( _Science and Magic_ , 2003, issue 7).

Not much later, it was discovered that the Magiparticle not only had the ability to manipulate gravity between objects but also between the particles itself - and in early spring of 1993, Illusions Incorporated patented a new trash converter that changed all manner of trash into its base elements, changing the way people handled waste forever. A mere month later the first handheld generator was manufactured - the Portable Magiparticle Generation Machinery could levitate items weighing up to a few kilograms only but it immediately became popular which eventually led to the technology being dubbed as Magitech ( _History of Magitech_ , Magitech website, read in 2005. _Magitech Machina_ , 2000, issue 1).

It is rumoured that around this time Illusions Incorporated signed a government contract which eventually led to the creation of the Quick Response Hoverunit - a new kind of military aircraft which unlike hovercars could climb altitudes up to several hundred feet and which eventually, in the year 1999, would replace military helicopters almost entirely ( _Urban legends_ , Magitech website, read in 2005).

The year 1992 was not called the Year of New Innovation for nothing. Hovercars and artificial gravity was only the beginning. As more and more people began working with the miraculous energy that was the Magiparticle, more and more uses for it was discovered. After the disintegration feature was put into service, it took no more than a few weeks before the reverse effect was achieved as well; what had been waste was now a resource as the Magitech first broke the matter into its basic elements, and then brought them back together in a new formation, pure and uncontaminated. Junkyards could be changed into raw iron in a matter of days, and landfills could be literal gold mines for those who could utilise their Magitech properly ( _Illusions Incorporated catalogue_ , 1993. _Magitech Matter Conversion advertisement_ , 1992 and 1993).

The Magitech revolution made the Industrial Revolution pale in comparison - both for the advancements it made, and for the damage it caused. Companies toppled under new sciences, entire categories of jobs became obsolete - tens of thousands of people were reported to have been made redundant. It eventually led to the Magitech Riots of 1993, where nine people died and seventeen were seriously injured, when the Illusions Incorporated headquarters were besieged by angry people who had recently lost their jobs. Illusions Incorporated was sued twenty eight times that year - by individuals, companies, corporations, agencies, and entire unions of waste disposal workers ( _Time Magazine_ , 1993, issues 4 and 5).

It spawned Harry Potter's legendary quote when asked if he would reconsider his company's agenda. "I'll reconsider innovation the day when someone gives me a good reason why innovation should be reconsidered." His words were followed by the announcement that Illusions Incorporated would be starting up a university concentrating strictly on Magitech and its application in the current day and age. It created four new job categories alone in the first year it was running ( _Harry Potter's biography_ , in Illusions Incorporated website. _CNN_ _news_ _archives_ , 1993).

By the time Harry Potter "discovered" in late 1993 that with the Magiparticle, you could actually disintegrate things and then rearrange them either exactly the same way or in a completely different order over the course of a distance which built the foundation for the first Matter Transporters and to complete new ways of construction and production, Magitech was a household name all around the muggle world ( _Time Magazine_ , 1996, issue 8).

 

**3.4 Magic of the Internet**

 

In late May, 1991, the revolution of the new radios in the hidden Wizarding World reached its peak and conclusion when the information transfer capabilities were added and the Library Network was created. It was marketed as the easy way to share knowledge - that people would be able to put whatever they wanted into it, and everyone with an advanced radio could view their material. In essence, it was a free encyclopaedia, years before anyone even thought of creating Wikipedia. And it worked, immediately filling up with instructions for spells, potions and everything in between as people shared what they knew ( _Incorporated Illusions catalogue_ , 1991. _Magitech_ _Machina_ , 2001, issue 5. _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1991, May 24).

By this time, the knowledge that Harry Potter was the CEO of Incorporated Illusions was known but not widely talked about as he rarely, if ever, traversed into magical areas and instead controlled his company from afar. As it had been five years since he was last heard of, the ones who truly paid mind were few and far in between. In Britain alone did the fact make any sort of impact, but even the debasing articles in Daily Prophet had little effect as Incorporated Illusions had revolutionised the lives of wizards everywhere ( _Daily_ _Prophet_ , 1991 June 3. _Tempus Magazine_ 1999, issue 12).

It is now a well known and well studied fact that the Internet was the reason for the technological revolution of the magical world. Although numerous additions were included into the so-called radio, and numerous new "inventions", repurposed versions of readily available muggle products, were released by Incorporated Illusions, one of which was the portable version of the radio which in essence was a mobile phone, it was the Internet or Library Network that changed everything. In early 1993, after much progress was made with the advanced radios and the vast Library Network between them, Incorporated Illusions started selling a new type of addition to the latest model that would "allow a close inspection into the lives of muggles." ( _Of Incorporated Illusions_ , Magitech Website, read in 2005. _Incorporated Illusions catalogue_ , 1993 January).

The Muggle Network addition was sold at a low price and marketed as entertainment rather than education. It did not gain immediate popularity except for those with muggle relatives, but word of its benefits travelled from mouth to mouth, and throughout the year 1993 the sales of the addition increased steadily. At that time, wizards believed that the addition was a smaller version of the Library Network, albeit about muggles, which was meant to help wizards understand and blend in better within the muggle population. In truth, it was an open, wireless connection to the World Wide Web ( _Truth of "The Radio",_ Magitech website, read in 2005).

Albert Einstein once said that information is not knowledge. Kofi Annan said that information is liberating. What happened to the magical world when the information tsunami that is the internet reached their shores was a little bit of both. It confused many and liberated others, and the result of it was the complete upheaval of the system that had lasted for the better part of three hundred years. After a prolonged era in darkness, the magical nation had seen the light of innovation.

In the year 1993, the publication of new books in the wizarding world went up by 55%. In the meanwhile, more and more new companies were started, most of them working with new ideas, new improvements, and most of all, new technologies. In late 1994, a company called Illusion and Vision was started in New York City, funded by Incorporated Illusions. It at first sold improved muggle televisions, but in the year 1999 it would create the first model of the illusiovision, a functional 3-Dimensional or 3D television. Following the establishment of the company, the first wizarding news station was created in early 1995, WWNews, which first ran locally and then from 1996, almost globally until the end of 1999 ( _Tempus Magazine_ , 1994, issue 3. _Vision in Illusion_ , documentary, 2004).

But aside from information technology, other advancements were made as well, and over the next few years, there was an incredible sum of them. Magic powered light bulbs hit the market in the middle of 1993 and were an immediate hit. Late fall in 1993, furnaces and magic powered radiators started selling first in Canada before spreading elsewhere like a wildfire. Around the same time, a company called Clean House took the design of vacuum cleaners and various others cleaning supplies muggles used and made a fortune out of it - which led to a noticeable increase in magical companies that dealt with household appliances ( _Tempus_ 1998, issue 9).

The greatest and most dramatic change was when Security and Safety Inc. introduced the concept of Kevlar to the magical law enforcement in early 1994 after discovering that its strength also withstood against most offensive magic better than any other material, excluding dragon hide, but at a cheaper cost. Kevlar vests quickly gained popularity. Following that, many magical law enforcement institutions followed the example of their muggle counterparts and were the first to exclude robes as part of their uniform ( _Security and Safety Magazine_ , 1995, issue 4).

For a couple of years, innovation was the highest paying job in the wizarding world - innovation and re-innovation. Following the lead of Incorporated Illusions and its followers, more and more businesses were started up as hundreds of people strove to take the concepts of muggle technology and advancements, and then translate it to magic - and become rich while doing so. In the meantime, magical money institutions such as Gringotts first suffered under the onslaught, and then flourished as they too started taking on muggle ideas and applying it to their own businesses ( _Salem Grimoire_ , 1994, February 16. _Daily_ _Prophet_ , 1994, April 2).

Salem Central Vaults was the first wizarding bank to start giving out loans and selling insurances - and the first to duplicate the system of the muggle Automated Teller Machine, or ATM, dubbing their version the Asynchronous Transfer Mode, as well as the first to hand out wizarding credit cards on April 23rd, 1996. Most of the credit went to the fact that the entire project was mostly handled by Incorporated Illusions, who designed the Salem Central Vault's radio network as well as the ATM machines ( _Easy and Instant_ , Salem Central Vaults leaflet, 1996. _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1996 April 19 and 24).

Incorporated Illusions was in fact at the heart of every new innovation in the magical world, and no wonder, it all but owned all the information technology that wizards knew and used.

 

**3.5 Fiction to fact**

 

While NASA along with numerous other space agencies all over the world were busy making plans for the first orbital space station which would incorporate the use of Illusions Industrial's artificial gravity generators, the company itself was looking several steps ahead. The world was rocked once more when in the spring of 1994 Illusions Incorporated introduced the concept of teleportation - not as a theory, but in a real life demonstration where a fruit basket was transported from WashingtonDC to Los Angeles instantly ( _Time Magazine_ , 1994, issue 8. _Discover Magazine_ , 1994, issue 4).

It was said back then that the Magitech revolution was finished because what could be greater than breaking the known laws of physics and completely rewriting the way people thought of science? "Science fiction is not fiction anymore!" was the headline of Discover Magazine, and it predicted the complete overhaul in the way people travelled - foreseeing the eventual interplanetary transport system, which would by the year 2003 connect Earth to Mars.

But this was not the end of Harry Potter's revolution. The final stage of the revolution was just beginning.

 

* * *

 

**4\. End of the World as We Knew It**

 

It was in the summer of 1994 when the wizards eventually took notice of Illusions Incorporated when a muggleborn magical theorist took a closer look at the Magiparticle Generator and realised what it did. A paper was published in the back of Transfiguration Today and later in Spelling Tomorrow, revealed the shocking fact of what Harry Potter had done. He had in essence, given magic to the muggles.

At this point, the magical world was in the midst of its own technological revolution, so the ones who originally noticed this fact had neither time nor the power to do anything about it. The magical governments were busy trying to redefine the limits of their people who were fast reforming the world around them, and trying to regain stability with the economy fluctuating due to the surplus of businesses was the main concern. The lack of action at the time could mostly be credited to the fact that Harry Potter owned a great part of the economy, and poking the hive of a man who owned more gold than any other wizard in history was not on anyone's list of priorities ( _Magitech_ _Machina_ , 2000, issue 7. _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1994, September 3).

But as flying cars became more common and muggles created entire lines of new products based on technological magic, suspicion and anxiety begun to mount. The Magitech Teleporter caused some suspicious murmurings, but there was not enough evidence for anyone to do anything about it. When in the fall of 1994 Illusions Incorporated released a line of familiar-looking personal shield generators that came to be the standard of every armed forces by the year 1997, the murmurings grew a little louder. This was only aggravated by the follow up of the new stun weapons in December later that year - and the building of the first commercial mass transportation aircraft that flew solely on Magitech hover technology ( _Daily Prophet_ , 1995, May 2 and 3).

The straw that broke the camel's back ended up being the Invisibility Cloak, released in early 1995 and immediately adopted by every armed force that just could get their hands on it. The objections that arose at first were mostly because of the staunch traditionalists and the fact that the magical citizenry still held onto a lot of old traditions. It was only some time later that wizards did realise what it meant for muggles to have the power of invisibility.

Magic's superiority over muggles was all but gone by that time.

 

**4.1 Goliath against David**

 

Harry Potter was arrested by the Salem Tribunal on February 2nd, 1995 on the charges of breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and committing treason. The trial was short, ending with him being found guilty of all charges, and he was demanded to break up Illusions Incorporated immediately, as well as pay up to fourteen million galleons to various wizarding governments. After that, he was meant to go to prison for twelve years.

None of that happened because of a single fact - Harry Potter was just the CEO of Illusions Incorporated, not its owner. As it was, Harry Potter only owned twenty four percent of his own company. "If you want the company to break up, you will have to talk with the rest of the shareholders," he was recorded to have said during the trial. "All five thousand of who are muggles. And to get to them, you will have to go through the Board of Directors, all of whom own considerable shares." The demands to break up Incorporated Illusions were faced with a similar answer ( _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1995, February 4 and 5).

 After the trial was postponed for further consideration, Harry Potter took a moment to call his attorneys. The Salem Tribunal, the Salem Ministry of Magic and Law and the Salem State of Old Magic were all served with lawsuits within the hour. Abuse of authority, harassment, unfair legal proceedings, legal abuse, wrongful implication and several more were the charges - beginning what is now called the Second Salem Witch Trials ( _Tempus_ _Magazine_ , 1995, May 6).

It was around the end of February as the court dates piled on when Harry Potter's attorneys argued his case that he had in fact, not broken any laws. The first charge, breaking the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, had no leg to stand on as he had explicitly not told a single muggle about magic – and the Magiparticle, produced completely through artificial means, did not fall into the definition of magic under the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. And when the International Confederation of Wizards voted to change the law - while still in middle of the biggest lawsuit of their lives - Harry Potter promptly filed a lawsuit against them too.

The second charge, treason, was also felled due to the simple fact that everything Harry Potter had ever done with Illusions Incorporated had been done while still a British citizen - he had remained in the United States so far by renewing his green card periodically. The Salem State of Old Magic could not try him for treason when he was not a citizen of any of the states in the US magical world ( _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1995, May 14, 15 and 16).

Regardless, the trials were prolonged from a month to two months and eventually longer as the British Ministry of Magic got involved and added their own accusations to the case. By that time however, it was clear to all who followed the situation as to what was going on - and why Harry Potter did not seem to mind the endlessly prolonged legal soap opera. Simply put, he had the money - enough of it to buy the courtrooms they fought in, as well as the families of the people who argued against him. Some have also later argued that it was all in his plan - the plan he had started in 1986 when he left Britain ( _Rumours_ section, Magitech website, read in 2005).

In the end, the lawsuits were dismissed one after another until an awkward compromise was decided upon. Harry Potter paid about three million galleons in settlement for somewhat obscure reasons, and the case of Salem State of Old Magic, International Confederation of Wizard and the British Ministry of Magic versus Harry Potter ended.

"Court Verdict Is In: Harry Potter Owns Magic" said the Salem Grimoire's not-so-exaggerated headline on June 3rd, 1995, the day after the trials ended; but it was an apt description considering the events that followed.

 

**4.2 End in Sight**

 

However, the magical world's disagreements with Harry Potter and his two corporations were far from over nor were his disagreements only between himself and various governments and institutions. In the summer of 1995, both of his companies fell under several attacks by protesters and saboteurs, the most devastating of which was the attack at the flagship store of Incorporated Illusions in Witchburn Street, where four people died and the shop was greatly damaged. There have also been numerous rumours and stories of several spying attempts on Harry Potter's person and work as various magical institutions tried to find a way to stop him.

However, the fallout of the Second Salem Witch Trials was not all negative for Harry Potter and his companies - or the wizarding nations in general. Before the year 1995 was over, 46% of the muggleborn witches and wizards who had abandoned the magical world over the years had returned - heralding of times to come. The year also saw the birth of new branches of magical sciences as magical theorists drew upon the concept of the Magiparticle Generator and started to unravel the secrets of magic on a whole new level ( _Tempus Magazine_ , 1995, issue 12).

In the muggle world, Illusions Industrial did not remain complacent, not even during the lengthy lawsuits, and in the fall of 1995, the company celebrated the completion of the _Chimera_ , the international space station which, as the first of its kind, had functional artificial gravity. They were also busy preparing for the first Earth-to-space teleportation tests which if successful would grant Illusions Incorporated and its various space agency allies twenty years' worth of government funding ( _Discover Magazine_ , 1995, issue 8).

In 1996, the wizarding population soon became aware of the gradual changes that had begun in 1995 when seven wizards and witches enrolled in the Salem University of Magiparticle Sciences - one of them a known magical theorist, Victor Hunt, who had been working on the Magiparticle technology since the trials. The magical newspapers both denounced and lauded them, calling them everything from explorers to traitors, and the wizarding world waited with bated breath for the results. The result was that after a year in the university, Victor Hunt was hired to work with Illusions Incorporated by Harry Potter. A few months after that, he published the first paper on Natural Magiparticles. ( _Magical_ _Theory_ _Journal_ , 1996, September 17. _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1996, September 17).

It was, as they say, the beginning of the end. While traditionalists banded together, proclaiming the end of the world and their way of life, rallying against Harry Potter and sabotaging his companies, some individuals started stepping forward. In the year 1996, 21 % of magical parents started sending their children to muggle schools instead of magical ones, and there was an approximately 43% increase in the rate of withdrawals from magical schools. Tempus Magazine called it the "The Great Migration", reporting that almost five hundred witches and wizards all around the United States were now studying for their muggle university entrance exams - the most popular choice of which was the Salem University of Magiparticle Sciences in Massachusetts.

Meanwhile, the Magitech revolution in the muggle world and the technological revolution in magical world continued until flying scooters were fairly common in both of them, and a person could travel from the magical world to the muggle world and only see the difference in architecture and sometimes, although more and more rarely, in wardrobe. Incorporated illusions started calling their technology by its actual name and advanced radios were renamed computers while handheld radios were renamed mobile phones - by which time, it was more of a hindsight than revelation ( _Tempus_ _Magazine_ , 1997, issue 7).

The final result of Harry Potter's revolution was in sight, and hundreds of seers all over the world were clamouring about the end of the world by the spring of 1997. The majority of the magical world still fought against it, and countless of trials, hearings and conferences were held all through the year, until finally Harry Potter was called to answer for his actions and plans to the council of the International Confederation of Wizards ( _Daily Prophet_ , 1997, June 17).

"I plan to move forward," was the simple, well quoted answer that drove in how little the greatest magical revolutionary to ever have lived cared or needed the magical world's approval. "You're all welcome to stay behind."

 

**4.3 Repeal of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy**

 

The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, signed originally in 1689 and then established in 1692, is credited for many things: The survival of wizarding culture, of their way of life, of magic in general - and most of all, the prevention of the interracial wizards versus muggles war that was rumoured to be only a matter of time when the statute was being planned. It was a source of racial pride for wizards everywhere, their successful gambit that has for years kept them secret, safe, and secretly superior ( _Statute of International Secrecy Laws and Regulations_ , 1721. _Tempus Magazine_ , 1997, issue 8).

A study by Leon Thompson in 1997 says otherwise: "It's ludicrous to say that for certain the Statute of Secrecy stopped a war - because the war never happened and no actions of war were ever committed, there is no proof of anything. Even citing the Witch Hunts as evidence doesn't hold water, atrocious as they might've been. The only thing that can be said for certain was what the Statute of Secrecy _caused_ : stagnation."

In his book, _Stagnation in Secrecy_ , Thompson ruthlessly points out not only the technological arrest, but also the regression that happened to wizards all over the world after the Statute was put into action. "Cut off from our magicless counterparts, we revelled in our magic until it was all we could do - and although one might argue the benefits of this, anyone who can read a newspaper today can see; the world itself disagrees," he says. "Wizards lost their urge to innovate and improve until muggles not only stepped past us, but they became _superior_ to us. All the technology we had, we had stolen and copied from them - and then acted like kings of the hill for our cleverness without anyone to say otherwise. It's no wonder Harry Potter became so powerful - he exploited the basic law in our very nature, and unlike the so-called inventors of the Hogwarts Express or the Knight Bus, he did it _right_."

It was Leon Thompson and many others, whose books, articles, claims, lectures and calls for attention that eventually forced the International Confederation of Wizards to come together in a Secrecy Summit in the fall of 1997 to discuss the unthinkable - the amendment of the Statute of Secrecy. The fact was that everyone else now knew of magic, and they were forced to face that regardless of what they would decide, their world would be dragged into the light and out of secrecy - if not by Harry Potter, then by those who thought he was right.

The first summit's decision was a careful amendment that would give wizards more freedom with their powers in the muggle world - the suggestion was that they would pretend to get their powers from Magiparticle Generators. It was overruled soon after because people were no longer satisfied with pretending to be stage magicians - the concept of being able to be exactly what they were, whenever, and wherever they went appealed to a great many people.

Of course, the decision frightened and outright terrified an even greater number of people, and the second summit was protested loudly and violently, ending without a decision made in the matter. The third summit suffered the same problem; the fourth summit succeeded because it was held in a hard to reach location, Shangri-La in January 1998. It lasted for a week before a decision was settled upon, and the first stage of the Repeal of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy began (Thompson L.I., 2001, _SOS, Over_ ).

Perhaps because the ICW had no real idea on what to do or because they thought that he might as well finish the work he had started - or because they feared that the person in charge would be vilified for it - the ICW turned to the man whom they had only a few years earlier tried to convict. Harry Potter, who had been held in a position of awe and hatred for almost as long as he had lived, named the enemy of the wizarding world multiple times and its saviour equally as well, was given the permission, the means - even the funding - to end the Statute of Secrecy. He took on the job with reported satisfaction, and was quoted to have said that it would be his pleasure and it would be considered his greatest achievement.

_"If the ICW had realised how serious he was about that, they might've reconsidered hiring him to do their dirty work." Leon Thompson, video lecture on Magitech Website, recorded in 2002, viewed in 2005._

 

**4.4 Natural Magiparticle Carriers**

 

It was a surprise for many when Harry Potter did not simply make a press conference and tell muggles everything the first chance he got - but hindsight, it should not have. In all of his career, he had been a man of long-winded, subtle plans that were said to fruition like a boulder rolling down a hillside; inevitable and impossible to stop or divert. What he did with the Statute of Secrecy was very much an example of that.

It started with the theory of the Natural Magiparticle Carriers in the spring of 1998, written by Victor Hunt - not for wizards like his previous papers, but for muggles. The proposition that the human cellular structure could, with the right genetic coding and some slight adjustments, have the natural ability of producing the same energy the Magiparticle Generator produces was a novel idea for the muggles who studied it hard and diligently until some could agree and others disagree, and the debate could begin. At the time, the subject of the debate was whether or not humans could be genetically engineered to produce Magiparticles on their own, but at the right time; Victor Hunt proposed that this might already be happening.

At the same time, Illusions Incorporated released the Handheld Magiparticle Manipulator which, being a thousand times more powerful and accurate than the Magiparticle Generator Mark Four, could do almost anything a wizard with a wand could. Levitation, matter disintegration and transformation, even things like shield projections and minor stunner discharges were possible - and it was marketed with the simple phrase, "Feel like a Wizard!". It was nicknamed as The Wand by the consumers, and the timing of its release was apt ( _Illusions_ _Incorporated_ _Catalogue_ , 1998 June).

While Victor Hunt's article and the Wand started muggles on their own path of discovery, sending hundreds of thousands to research the history of magic, in the magical side of society, Harry Potter continued as he had. He now introduced the Magitech technology to the wizards and witches, making them ready for the change to come - and driving in the fact that magic was not theirs alone anymore or necessarily a privilege, but a gift. This started not only the era of hover-microscooters in various magical places, but also new innovations within magical medical science and studies which led to the development of magical microscopes - and the very first potions in pills, or PIPs.

However, wizards were not Harry Potter's priority anymore, and while they flailed in the tremors of a changing world, his people approached other tribes of magic and made plans and allies. As a result, 114 organisations, companies, facilities and corporations were created within the year, along with the 27 natural parks, sanctuaries and reserves set in muggle territories - all for the purpose of saving what wizards in general were hardly even thinking of at the time - the magical creatures that for muggles were mere myths and who, unlike wizards, were greatly defenceless.

In 1999, Harry Potter patented the, at the time still hypothetical, Natural Magiparticle Carrier genome both in humans and in animals, essentially becoming the owner of magic. He would fight to keep the patent, going into another legal war with various governments from 2000 to 2003, and eventually winning; only to have the majority of the human owners of said gene object to it bitterly. But the fact was that the patent was one of the main things that made his plan not only possible, but safer than it otherwise would have been ( _Tempus_ _Magazine_ , 2004, issue 6. _Magical_ _Medicine_ , 2005, issue 2).

The patent, in simplest terms, made it illegal for anyone to experiment on or even truly study magical humans or creatures without prior permission from the reclusive Harry Potter.

 

**4.5 Ambassador Harry Potter**

 

The year 1999 for Harry Potter was a year of diplomacy, conferences and treaties as he negotiated the terms of the final reveal. In that year, more muggles had learned about wizards than any other in the last three hundred years - although it was nothing when compared to how it would be in the year 2000, which was the date Harry Potter had set for the final reveal. Although it no doubt helped that various heads of government knew of the existence of magic - Prime Ministers, Presidents, sovereigns and monarchs - there were still thousands of governors, secretaries, ministers and other politicians all around the world who needed to know, not to mention about heads of various armed forces and so forth.

In that time, Harry Potter was in essence the first and last ambassador of all magical nations - and whether or not he did a good job depends on which angle you look at the result from. He prevented panic, chaos and the supposed World War III many feared would break out, but in so doing, he destroyed countless magical governments - in fact, all of them.

Ever since the Statute of Secrecy came into place, every nation essentially had an autonomous nation within it, as all the various parts of the hidden magical world had become independent from the rest of their respective countries. The magical nations had had their own laws, rules, even their own special governments and legal proceedings, and the connection between muggle and magical governments was barely existent, ( _Tempus_ _Magazine_ , 1999, issue 3. _Time Magazine_ , 2000, issue 1 and 2).

In a truly united world, this could not continue - no country could have two national sets of government at the same time, professing their own laws, and not end up in a civil war. It was the first and foremost demand from the muggle governments - the immediate abolishment of the magical government. Harry Potter agreed to it readily - to the extremely loud objections of the magical governments he represented - but with conditions that were negotiated for months on end.

In the end it was decided that the Minister for Magic, the Secretary of Magic and various similar positions would become viable occupations in the muggle governments - although their holders would have nowhere near their former authority. This was the only thing that was decided upon. New laws were written, new governmental organisations first suggested then started as well as new positions were created and so forth. Demands were issued for both parties, which were negotiated ceaselessly until there was an agreement. The result was messy and nowhere near perfect; the wizards were left bitter about the sacrifices they had to make, but the 2000 Treaty, as it would be called, was begrudgingly signed ( _Salem_ _Grimoire_ , 1999, November 11. _Daily_ _Prophet_ , November 11).

January 1st, 2000, the Statute of Secrecy was finally repealed - and the end of magical world had begun.

 

**4.6 Final Illusion**

 

Illusions Incorporated and Incorporated Illusions merged into a single company on April 1, 2000, simply taking up the name of Illusions Inc. and continuing as it always had; while around it, the world went through a chaotic transformation. The chosen date of the merger has been analysed over and over, and it is believed that this was Harry Potter's finishing move - his final thumb on nose for the whole wide world to see. Whether it is true or a mere coincidence, no one really knows, and as always, Harry Potter is not willing to comment ( _Daily_ _Prophet_ 2000, April issue 2).

As the magical world collapsed and the rest of the planet found out that there were people with superhuman powers among them, Illusions Inc. did not change and did not falter - the testament of which was the publication of the Atlantis Project which, by the year 2012, would see the creation of a hovercity. Harry Potter himself was never available to comment about the transformation of the world and even in 2002, when he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for the work he had done to "achieve the peaceful unification of two completely different worlds", all he said was a “Thank you”, and nothing more ( _Illusions Incorporated_ website and _Nobel Prize_ website, read in 2005).

This left the rest of world to wonder if he did it out of vengeance, compassion, greed - or simply because of a series of coincidences that led him to be the right man for the job. No one knows and most likely, no one ever will without Harry Potter himself confirming the facts.

 

* * *

 

 

**5\. Thoughts on the subject**

 

I  used to be called a _muggleborn_ , and when I turned eleven in 1991, I was invited to join the magical society of Britain and begin my schooling at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Back then, I was excited, I was intrigued, I was eager to learn everything I could about magic - and in the end, I was disappointed, disheartened and distraught by how I found Hogwarts. What happened was personal and I will not be sharing it, but suffice to say, I did not return for my second year.

If it hadn't been for Harry Potter, I doubt I would've cast a single spell after the Ministry of Magic visited my parents and I in the summer of 1992, to have us sign the secrecy agreement and to snap my wand before my very eyes. As it was, I did not cast another spell until early 1999, and that was through a Magitech Wand, not a wooden one like the one I had bought from Ollivanders. So, why he did it and whether his motives were good or evil, I personally am grateful because before 2000, I did not felt complete - before 2000, I did not even feel like a real person.

I first heard of Harry Potter when I was in school. The Hogwarts class of 1997, my class, was semi-famous for the single reason that, if things had followed their natural course and the Ministry hadn't gone forth with their plans in 1980, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom would have been in our class. Had things been different, a hero could have been sitting right next to us, learning magic alongside with us. That gave many of my classmates a certain sense of bolstered self-importance, like being born in the same year as the famous Harry Potter gave them a piece of his greatness, regardless of how insane he became according to magical history books.

I personally never found it awe striking at the time - I thought it was somewhat unnerving in fact. What the Ministry of Magic did to Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom in order to win the war against Voldemort always seemed wrong to me, inhuman - and when my classmates talked about it, I couldn't help but wonder how old did Harry Potter seem like then – time-wise my age, and yet already an adult physically and mentally. It was an uncomforting thought for an eleven year old.

Now that I'm older and have lived through Harry Potter's revolution - now that I drive to the University where I study in my own hovercar, now that I carry two Wands of two model designs, now that I can do magic everywhere I like, now that I'm studying to get my Doctorate in Magiparticle Physics - I look back and, yes, I do understand why the class of '97 at Hogwarts felt proud. I feel proud, a little, for having born in the same year as such a great and frightening man.

As for the rest…

I started writing this essay in order to figure out whether my life had been shaped by an incredible, enormous act of revenge or something else entirely, but in the end, I could not come up with a conclusion. The available facts are all there, the incidents and accidents all laid out in sequence, all the information is there and yet, I cannot draw an answer from it. Perhaps, I think, because I don't want to. 

Fifteen years ago, I would have never even dreamed of seeing flying cars, or space stations such as the Chimera, the Pegasus and the Nymph. I would've never dreamed of taking an instant transporter from London to New York, yet I did so just a few weeks ago. Nor would I've dreamed of seeing wizards and muggle scientists working together - or seeing so many illnesses all but eradicated using a mixture of muggle medicine and magical potioneering or the many other advancements that have been made, are being made, and will no doubt continue to be made in the course of the following years.

Of course, there have been setbacks. Twenty magical creatures have gone extinct in the process, and various others with human level sentience still have a way to go before they are accepted as fully equal to humans. There has been an incredible increase in the population of vampires, werewolves and hags but the verdict is still out on the rights of creatures labelled as dark. The traditionalist riots still take place - just this summer, they took the lives of more than thirty people, mostly innocents. Nothing is perfect and even steps to improve things do not always go right – such as the attempt to free house-elves from slavery in 2003 proved.

But overall, I think the positive outweighs the negative. Harry Potter changed the world and I like to think the change was for the better. Magic and science, wizards and muggles, whatever names you want to give the two, achieved amazing things together and the result is truly greater than the sum of its parts.


End file.
